One Ending, A New Beginning
by jayb
Summary: The third of the SkuldSentaro series, this one is a little different. Let's just say it takes place way down the road of life.


ONE ENDING, A NEW BEGINNING 

Sentaro was sitting quietly on the porch with his eyes closed, gently breathing in and out. Where his skin was exposed by the light yukata he felt the caress of a warm late spring breeze, and he could hear the twitter of the birds flying past. A loose piece of his gray hair would move across his forehead like a pendulum. Close by he heard a new sound, that of feathers and the beat of wings. He smiled as a hand linked with his. A light kiss on his cheek, and he sighed. Finally he opened his eyes and looked into the smiling face of Noble Scarlet. She placed her warm cheek against his in greeting. He spoke for the first time in hours, "Good afternoon my little one,  
I'm glad you're back." Sentaro was given a squeeze of the hand in return. Then a soft tap on the head with a finger tip got his attention.

"So I'm just an unnecessary house decoration around here?" Skuld was kneeling next to him and gave "the look" with one eyebrow raised as she emphasized each of her next words. "My dear, sweet, dirty old man,  
husband." Then she started to snicker as Noble Scarlet looked from Sentaro's other side and wrinkled her nose at Skuld. Sentaro rubbed his head and tried to look injured.

"And my loving wife has also returned I see." He leaned over and kissed her. "Umm. And just as tasty as always."

Skuld smiled and kissed him back. "Pervert! I should whack you with my cane!" She playfully raised it up and then reached for his free hand and held on. "So, have you been here the entire time?" Sentaro gave a grunt in answer. "I made it out here, and got up once, but now I'm stuck as it were." His wife nodded her head and his body rose from the porch, his legs straightening until he stood beside her with his feet barely touching the wood. Noble Scarlet helped guide him as Skuld's power lifted his weak body.

Sentaro shook his head slowly. "I once told Keiichi that we would not rely on your powers for everyday use. Now look at me! Sometimes I can't even walk without you being here." A shiver ran through his body. As he looked at his wife, tears started to form in the corner of his eyes. He turned his head so she wouldn't see, but she saw and also heard what his heart was saying.

Skuld stood and pushed her glasses back up on her nose. "Come along dear. It's been a beautiful day and you haven't had to sit through a very boring board meeting, Mr. Chairman of the Board Emeritus." She giggled like a little girl. "Of course they did cut it short in deference to my age and condition. I just had to fidget a little."

Sentaro laughed for the first time that day. "I wish I could have done that years ago." His face turned serious. "And did you take care of the coming changes?" His voice had choked a little when he mentioned "changes."

His wife, looking all of her eighty plus years, sighed. "Yes, it has all been taken care of." She looked over at him as they entered the small traditional house. "Our daughter has been appointed the new Chairman. And all the little troublesome things have been handled." Skuld looked over at her aged husband and smiled at him. "How about we don't think about business and I fix you a good dinner?" She kissed him again on the cheek. "You know that I prefer to make things and not manage them."

The trio had moved toward the kitchen while talking. Noble Scarlet moved a chair near the counter so Sentaro could sit and watch the preparations. Skuld put her cane aside and put on an apron. She looked at her husband's tired face. "Your usual favorite, dear?" Sentaro nodded agreement.

Sentaro watched as Skuld cut vegetables. Noble Scarlet would help as needed, but most of the time held tightly to his arm. He could feel her warmth through the yukata and closed his eyes drifting to a light sleep.

Skuld finished the preparations and moved to Sentaro's side. She smiled down at him as he slept. It wasn't an old man with thin gray hair that she saw, it was the young moto-cross rider that was covered in mud and dirt reaching for her to give him his victory kiss. Her fingers reached out and gently touched his face. Her voice was a whisper. "Hey, do you want dinner now."

He jumped a little and shook his head. "Sorry, I fell asleep on you again." He tried to lift himself up from the chair but couldn't. "Guess you have to do your thing again." As he rose from the chair seat to stand up, he looked at the gathering darkness. "Outside please. Could we eat on the porch?" His voice had a catch in it. "I..I think there is a meteor shower tonight." He turned to look at Skuld. "I want to watch it with you."

Skuld nodded and Noble Scarlet started to take Sentaro toward the porch facing the ocean where he had been most of the day. On the porch a table with the dinner on it suddenly appeared. Noble Scarlet helped him sit at the table, then took her place beside him. The red sun was almost on the horizon. Sentaro turned to watch as it disappeared into the sea.

As Skuld served his meal Sentaro watched the early stars come out. Suddenly he turned toward her and grabbed her wrist stopping her midway. "How long?" He blinked twice as his eyes were wet. "How long is there left?" He released her wrist.

Skuld sighed. This wasn't the first time he had asked that question of her. She finished placing the bowl in front of her husband and sat back. "Dear, I don't know how long it will be. I'm just a Goddess Second Class and we are not privy to that information." She reached out and took his hand, making him look at her. "Please don't worry about that and enjoy your dinner with us." She smiled at him. "Besides, you aren't going anywhere without me. Now are you?"

Sentaro gave a crooked smile. "Yes, my dear wife. You are always right." A chuckle started. "Shall we say I learned that real fast." He raised his finger up as if making a grand pronouncement. "My wife is always right!  
And I have the knots on my head to prove it!"

Skuld gave him her "look". "Baka!" Then she laughed with her husband of many years.

He nodded again. "And I will go nowhere without my life long love." He closed his eyes again for a second. "Never will I knowingly do that."

Skuld smiled again. "Now eat! We have a meteor shower to see afterwards."

The rest of the dinner was quiet. Every so often Noble Scarlet would help guide Sentaro's chopsticks for him.

TWO:

After the meal was finished Skuld moved her hand and the table with the empty dishes disappeared. She moved closer to her husband and he leaned against her. In the sky there appeared a few meteor trails. Each was a brief blaze of glory.

Sentaro reached for Skuld's hand and squeezed it. "Are you sorry?"

Skuld leaned a little away from him so she could see his face. "Huh? Sorry about what?" Her face was a little perplexed.

"I don't know. Life with me I guess. No children of our own." He paused. "That I'm sick enough that sometimes I can't even stand or feed myself." He looked at her directly. "Or that you have to use your power to take away my pain." He nodded his head slightly. "Yes, I know that I don't have the pain and medications the others have, and I know why." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thank you for that."

"Yes my dear. I figured you knew that one from the beginning." Skuld paused, then reached over and turned Sentaro's face toward her. "And I have nothing to be sorry about. It was you that I wanted. And we have a daughter. Mitsuki is ours even if I didn't carry her for nine months. I think that my helping raise her mother was enough." She stopped and looked at the reflection of the meteors in her husband's eyes. "And you could have been hurt riding those bikes, and I would have still taken care of you." She kissed him on the end of his nose. "You aren't going anywhere without me." Sentaro smiled weakly at her and nodded.

They sat quietly together holding each other's hand just as they did as teenagers, and watched the natural fireworks.

The sky was filled with fiery streaks, but it was getting late. Sentaro's eyes kept trying to close, and he felt weaker. Finally he shook his head and turned toward his wife. "Could you put a futon here for me? I want to lay down a while." Skuld nodded and his futon, pillow and cover appeared. She and Noble Scarlet maneuvered his body to a comfortable position so he could still see the sky and covered him. Each girl held one of his hands. His eyes closed again, but he managed to open them to look at Skuld. "I'm tired." His grip tightened on her hand. "Promise you'll stay here with me,  
okay." Skuld nodded and smiled at him. He turned toward Noble Scarlet and smiled, squeezing her hand also. His eyes closed and his breathing became slower as he fell into a real sleep.

The night was long, and the meteor display kept on. Skuld and Noble Scarlet still held to Sentaro's hands. Before dawn his breathing slowed further, then became ragged. Nobel Scarlet nodded at Skuld and let go of Sentaro's hand. Skuld also let go and arranged both of her husband's hands on the cover, then she leaned back. She made a circular motion above his sleeping body. As if the air itself had thickened there was a moving circle above Sentaro that almost couldn't be seen if you looked for it. In the center of the circle was a small opening.

Skuld watched intently. With a sudden movement she cupped her hands above the opening. The rising of Sentaro's chest slowed, then stopped. Skuld smiled and held her cupped hands together. Across from her Noble Scarlet watched then nodded. Leaning back Skuld put her cupped hands to her mouth and swallowed. Between them the circle faded into nothing.

THREE:

Sentaro woke with a start. Looking down he saw a hand stirring a small pot. He blinked quickly. "I'm fixing breakfast in my sleep? I can't be sleep walking! I never walk in my sleep!" He looked at the hand again and sighed. "Jeez, what will Skuld say about this?"

"Actually, I won't say anything, dear. I am happy you finally decided to wake up though."

Sentaro looked around. Nobody in the kitchen but him. "Skuld? Where are you?" His voice sounded confused.

"Fixing breakfast for myself. Why?"

Sentaro looked around again. "Uh, Skuld, my dear wife, I don't see you." He quickly looked over his shoulder toward the door a second time. He heard as Skuld sighed.

"If my dear husband would please stop looking around so I can finish making breakfast it would help considerably. Thank heaven I wasn't cutting something up!"

Sentaro looked back at the pot he was stirring. With sudden recognition he realized his hand wasn't holding the ladle. He shivered. That wrinkled and age splotched hand was his wife's. He thought about feeling shocked, but it wouldn't come.

"Dear, I need to put the soup in a bowl now. Look down please."

Sentaro couldn't speak as he watched the hands ladle out the soup into a single bowl. Then as he watched his body turn and pass in front of the kitchen window he saw a reflection. Skuld's reflection.

"Stop that, husband! I almost dropped the bowl."

"Skuld, what happened?" Sentaro's voice was shaking. "Am I really in your body?"

"You might say that, I guess." She paused. "Or you could say that I have a boy angel now." Skuld giggled. "That's a good thought! I have a boy angel to match with Noble Scarlet." She took a sip of the miso soup. "Hmm,  
tastes good. What do you think of the taste, dear?"

"All right it does taste good! Wait just a minute, how can I taste the soup?" Sentaro paused. "Skuld, tell me right now what happened. I went to sleep last night and now I'm here inside you."

"That was three weeks ago my sweet husband. You fell asleep three weeks ago." Mentally she sighed. "And your funeral is long over. Would you like some tea?"

In his thoughts his voice rose to a squeak. "My funeral! I'm dead?"

"No dear, as you can see you are not 'dead', after all you are speaking to me and can see the earthly world. Just say you are in a different situation. Okay?"

Sentaro puffed a couple of times to himself. "All right. I am inside your mind or whatever. How? You never said anything about this before."

He felt Skuld laugh. "Peorth taught me a little technique that First Class Goddesses learn, that's all. When your earthly body gave out I took your,  
hmm, let's call it your soul or spirit into myself. A little like my getting Noble Scarlet actually. May I have a cup of tea if you don't mind?"

Sentaro didn't answer, so Skuld finished her breakfast and cleaned up all the dishes.

"Sentaro, are you awake still?"

"Yes, I'm here." There was pause. "Are you happy with this? You don't mind me being with you like this?" Sentaro felt a wave of warmth flow over him.

"Dear, I am perfectly happy. Remember, I kept telling you that you weren't going anywhere without me. We have just kept our promise to each other haven't we?" There was a slight pause in her thought. "Now, I'm planning on taking a long trip if you don't mind. Just you and me enjoying the spring." Skuld stretched. "Well? Are you up to it my husband?"

"I guess I am. But what about the business? Aren't you needed there?"

Skuld smiled and even Sentaro could feel it. "No, I took care of all that before the last Board meeting. In fact, the old chairman may disappear for a long time. Maybe never to be seen again. How's that sound to you, my dear?"

Sentaro could feel himself begin to smile. And he noticed that he felt like a young man again. "Yes, let's get away by ourselves. I remember a great onsen we once visited. Let's stop there. Maybe I can get used to this by then." His enthusiasm was felt by Skuld and she smiled.

Skuld and Sentaro looked over the simple home they had built by the ocean.  
All was clean. "I kept this separate from everything else, just in case we want to visit again." She felt Sentaro's agreement. Now for the final adjustments. Near the front door was a mirror and Skuld stopped in front of it. "Husband, are you watching?" Again she felt his agreement and she smiled. In the mirror there was a sudden distortion then the reflection of the twenty-two year old Skuld stood there dressed in motorcycle leathers, her long black hair flowing around her. She turned and went out the sliding door and walked toward the separate storage building. Inside was the last Whirlwind model that Keiichi had owned, shining and tuned to perfection.

"Ready, my dear husband? Just remember that only one of us can control at a time." Skuld started the motorcycle and drove down the tree covered road away from the house. She could feel that both their hearts were lighter than they had been in many years.

END

5-1-06


End file.
